How would Gopher Football look in 2022 if the team had never moved out of Memorial Stadium?

[disco]

Why is Williams Arena beloved? That has not brought success to the Gopher basketball program.

It's one of the ten oldest arenas in college basketball, and I believe the second oldest (after Washington) in any major conference. That said, it's not beloved by all. There seem to be a fair number of fans who think it's time for the U to think about replacing it.

As far as players go though, other than games, I don't know how much time they spend there. Don't they spend most of their time in the athletic complex now?

 

[PMWinSTP]

What's the basis here of all this more success?

Was Memorial Stadium that big of an advantage that the players ... played better?

Sarcasm?

 

[PMWinSTP]

There were courts underneath it ?

The stands, yes. As well as the gym/fitness center for students.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

Do you have a source for that number? $40 million in the early 1980's seems really high. The cost to build the Metrodome was only $68M.

That was the quote I heard from a fellow student in. The late 80's, 87, 88 time frame in fact when there was an effort by students to Save Memorial and move back to Campus. 15 to 20 million was just what was to fix what was wrong and modern fire codes. What I thought was the original quote to rennovate and there was no appetite from Morril Hall and the administration to fund raise for it. There was an effort from the Student association, student government and. a group of students to return to campus in thr late 80's. I believe the planning and fundraising for the aquatic center was already in the works before the save Memorial stadium effort was made, and then there was tHe Metrodome lease. There was an effort before I was even a student to return to campus. There were complications that would have made it difficult to rennovate and quite costly to rebuild the field with modern drainage. That quote was for almost a complete, tear down, rebuild with just the brick shell exterior maintained. Very little support at the legislature for this, and the U had a lot of other priorities on campus. I believe there are articles in the archives, and the original plans for Memorial were reviewed but that was as far as it got. I should of clarified that what the original poster was right about the bare bones fixes needed just to bring Memorial up to code. There just was no appetite from State Government or in the Admin in 1982 to do anything to fix Memorial. Giel's hands were pretty much forced by downtown interest, Harvey McKay and the legislators at the time.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

Maybe both were discussed at different times.

The $15Mil version at the time ('82) of the move. The $40Mil version when there was a last gasp movement to get them back on campus before they built the Aquatic Center (circa '88-'89).

Memory is fading on that part. Just educated guess.

This is correct.

 

[jovs]

There were definitely racquetball/handball/squash courts in the bowels of Memorial Stadium - I played there many times.

The courts’ ceilings were slanted, due to the seating configuration of the stadium. That made for fun, interesting games!

Had to layer up in the winter, it was drafty down there.

 

[The SF Rock]

It wasn’t the venue. It was the end of the Peach Section.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Hopefully for Northwestern's sake they learned what not to do.

I think Northwesterns design is essentially all new.

For that price tag it should be…

 

[Schnauzer]

It was a good looking stadium

 

[Ope3]

Anyone know when they took the scoreboard down that was on top of Cooke Hall? I feel like it lasted into the 90s.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

I was a student in 1992 and I don’t remember the stadium being demolished. Weird as I hated the college football experience as a student at the dome.
The amount of money we spend on stadiums now is totally different from the 80’s and 90’s.

 

[Mulligan]

Long time ago, but quite sure they were in Memorial. Also had labs and other stuff in there. I don't think I am misremembering it.

They were in Memorial Stadium. Some of the main corridor had heating pipes on the ceiling and it would get hotter than hell. Played handball there quite a bit. And people who recall the football stadium as a dump are right; lots and lots of bench seating in the bowl and very shallow stands. Corridor was really crowded.

In '68 the graduation ceremony was cut short there by a thunderstorm. We could see it coming over Cooke Hall. The wind and rain hit, if I remember right, in the middle of an administrator's speech. I do remember him yelling something like, "And I pronounce you all graduated." We cheered and ran for cover.